Oblivious Reasons
by Omniskriba
Summary: After being out of the loop since the fifth grade, a different Arnold Perlstein returns to Walkerville. Dorothy Ann makes a mistake, Phoebe grows distant and Wanda finds a new toy to play with. A bit racy at the start but its a mild T rating on average.
1. Bed

Oblivious Reasons

Omniskriba

//: one.

When Dorothy Ann woke up that morning, all the world fit snuggly in a warm, muscular embrace. Her eyes still shut, face buried deep in Carlos' chest, Dorothy Ann relished the moment hangover and all. She has never had a "last night" like last night. Her body held on to the memory, clad only in satin sheets and her lover's soft, supple skin.

She was sixteen. Tall. Slim. Her mind was sharp as a tack but it was her blonde-haired, blue-eyed, slim-figured charm that men took notice of. Her figure has blossomed to that of a mature young woman's with all its urges and lures and inclinations. Nevertheless, she felt very, very small where she was, secure in Carlos' arms as she has never been before.

Perhaps it was last night's intimations that led her to feel Carlos' body differently. It was almost as if she was exploring him again for the first time, his contours seemingly more rugged and more detailed than she remembered them. And she thought she remembered them by heart before.

Dorothy Ann sleepily caressed one of her hands through his naked torso, feeling angled contours she once knew as round. She felt the firmness of her breasts give way to the rock-solidty of Carlos' abdomen. She was more than a little surprised by this, of course, as their naked toes touched. Perhaps at sixteen, Carlos was still growing. She ran her hand down those shredded abs and felt the same peculiarity sink in. It lost none of its firmness or detail although it was not the smooth symmetry she knew too well. It was not the scientifically and methodically sculpted shape created by a lifetime of school-sponsored athletics and routine workouts. The wall beneath her fingers weas built of irregular cobblestones. Were there six? Or eight? Or five? She couldn't tell by feeling it. His treasure trail, thickish but soft like down, distracted her. It was new to her. She was unfamiliar with the line of hair that seemed so natural as she spanned the broadness of his chest. It was not as developed as she remembered - on the whole, he seemed to have both slendered down and toned up. She didn't mind. This was the body that dragged her through every meaning of bliss all night the night before. She had never wanted him so badly.

A large, broad hand found its way between the threshold of her upper thighs. They were rough and calloused, warm to touch, resting on her silk-smooth skin. They were almost big enough to span around her leg, heavy and felt strong even at perfect rest. It unconsciously drew her closer by the heartstrings, drawing her to his side. They both smelled vaguely of tequila and spunk. It did not matter.

A fizz shot through her veins. They were both totally and completely naked under the sheets and Dorothy Ann finally realized that. The head of his limp member brushed her hips as their bodies met tighter. She gave a complacent smile though no one was there to see it. Had she been without him for so long to have missed all these drastic changes? He must have been a bit bigger soft that morning than when he was hard the last time they were "together".

She sighed. Drawing her hand from underneath, she reached out to find his head somewhere near the bedpost. Long, wavy hair met her long slender fing—

At that very moment, Dorothy Ann Brenner was officially awake. Both her eyes were open. The rest of her senses scrambled to register everything in her surroundings—where she was, who she was with and what she was doing the night before.

It did not take long for her to realize that Carlos Ramone, with whom she had a spat two days before, did not have auburn chest-hair.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Arnold saw what seemed to be a naked woman through the haze of sleep-stuff in his already near-sighted eyes. The woman, vaguely blonde and vaguely beautiful, looked agitated. Mortified even as she tried to pull his sheets over to cover her body, shuffling around, looking for her clothes.

His head was heavy and he knew he had been drinking. He vaguely recalls losing his virginity to someone the night before and was relieved that the person scampering all over his hotel room had boobs and a full head of hair. No one back in his high school would believe him if he told them he finally made it all the way with a girl, let alone a blonde bombshell, but that was irrelevant. All that mattered then was the woman in his room right. Maybe if he was really, really nice and really, really polite maybe she'd still talk to him after the hangover wore off.

"A...Arnold?"

It was a familiar voice. Like he had heard it somewhere before. He heard it long before he heard it last night when her pain-drenched screams of what might-have-been-his-name filled his head. A nagging sliver of nostalgia nagged him from the back of his head; from a simpler time when his geekery merited little more than light hearted taunts. He then realized the sleep-stuff had worn off from his eyes. He felt around half-blindly for his glasses, found them, put them on and gave the woman a long hard look. He then slammed himself onto the headboard and tried to hide his nakedness behind a hotel pillow.

"D-D-D-D-Dorothy ANN!"

He found his head, Arnold did, watching Dorothy Ann struggling into a pair of tight-cut jeans standing up, her upper body barely clad with white, designer unmentionables. The events of the night before fell into place like an unshattering punch bowl.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Dorothy Ann assembled her thoughts. This is Arnold's hotel room she told herself, recalling everything that happened between waking up that morning and the last coherent memory she had.

They were in Austin. The Austin Merriot to be precise. Yesterday, she finished third in the Texas State Women's Division Ivy Bowl - the Ivy League-sponsored High School Quiz Bee - qualifying her for the National Finals. She may have been a bit disappointed she didn't grab first but she could have at least left the Convention Hall relieved. She was going to the National Finals! She should have been excited at least. It was not like her to leave as distraught as she did, tired and listless.

But it wasn't the contest that got to her. On a different day, she would have joined a gaggle of other contestants and partied her brains out before she returned to Walkerville for even more excruciating study.

Then again, it was particularly bitter the way Carlos and her fought two days before and she could hardly be blamed if she scooted off by herself and drank herself three ways to Sunday in the hotel bar. It didn't take much to floor her, she admitted. Half a shot of tequila and she already has four centers of gravity.

She was one and three-fourths of a shot into her slump when a bunch of geeks came in. They were obnoxious and noisy but not in the way jocks inevitably are. For one thing, their banter was made up, for the most part, of shrill whines and grated bursts of laughter. It was almost embarassing how she was able to understand everything they were saying. They must be from the Men's Division, she thought. Apparently, their "leader", a tall young man who was strangely out of place with the crowd for some reason, got into the finals as well.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

She was wearing the white "one-size-fits-all" Ivy Bowl 2000 tee shirt and a pair of blue jeans. He was watching her from across the room even as he swapped Dungeons and Dragons war stories with the few new friends he made at the Austin meet.

"So I rolled a four, right? And there were two mighty draco-liches in front of me. So what I did was—was—"

"Uh… Perlstein? Is something wrong?"

"As I was saying, I rolled a four, right?"

She was in the bar, obviously already a bit tipsy. She was telling the bartender to "Shut up, Carlos! You never supported anything _I_ want to do! It's always you and your stupid inventions and get-rich-quick schemes and I've had it with you ignoring the things important to _me_! I'm going to Austin alone and unless you clean up your act while I'm gone, it's over between us!". Interestingly, the bartender was a pretty young asian girl and he was pretty sure her name tag said "Hello, my name is Lara".

Well what do you know? It was Dorothy Ann. Dorothy Ann from Walkerville Elementary. Was it what—five, six years since he's seen her? He moved from Walkerville to Dallas during the fifth grade and he was never able to keep in touch with anyone. Phoebe called once or twice during the first few years and he received a birthday card from the old gang on his eleventh birthday but they eventually drifted apart all the same. They slipped his mind, he slipped theirs and life went on as it should.

When the guys had decided to hit one of their rooms for a night of wild and wicked sorority girls (on video), Arnold split up with them at the door. Hepped up on some liquid courage, he excitedly came to her side.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Drink!" Dorothy Ann commanded Mr. Random Red-Haired Hollywood Movie Star.

"No thank you. Me and the others—"

"DRINK!"

"Yes ma'am."

Dorothy Ann couldn't remember what movie saw him in but he seemed familiar. Like he was from a really, really fun movie she saw as a kid. One that had dinosaurs and space ships and shrinking and flying and all sorts of twisted, wacky magical stuff like the stuff they used to do in Ms. Frizzle's class back in the third grade.

"Uhm… I don't know if you remember me but it's… it's me… Arnold Perlstein. I used to live in Walkerville. We used to be in grade school together?"

"Oh riiiiight! You were the kid with that turned orange from eating too much beta carotine! I loved that episode! Can I have your autograph, mister… uh—"

"Dorothy Ann, I think your drunk. Maybe I should take you to your room."

"No! I'll stay, you drink. We're not going anywhere until I look like Alicia Silverstone. Then, you can take me to my room."

As it turns out, Arnold had enough liquid courage to take up her offer.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"We had SEX?"

"Yeah… I think that's what happened."

"Oh god, what have we done? What have I done?" Arnold exclaimed nervously. He was eyeing his surroundings paranoid that there might have been hidden cameras somewhere. He didn't take her back to her room. This was his.

"I…" Dorothy Ann was at a loss for words. It wasn't as if Arnold took advantage of her. She can still remember Arnold and Her dancing with lampshades on their heads sometime before they fell into bed so he must have been just as soused as she was. And that morning's Arnold looked even more afraid than she was.

"I'm sorry."

Dorothy Ann saw more than one thoroughly used condom on the carpet. They seemed intact enough, though only barely.

"No… it's okay. It's okay."

There was silence between them. Dorothy Ann dared not look at him. Neither did he.

"How's… how's everyone in Walkerville?"

"They're… I have to ."

"Please, Dorothy Ann—"

"I have to go."

She was perfectly still, hand over her face.

She was perfectly still for a particularly odd period of time.

"I really have to go."

Still, not an inch.

"Do… you want to have breakfast?"

"Uh, okay. Just give me a sec to shave…"

Running away from her problems was not like her. Perhaps just denying anything happened would suffice.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Next: What everybody's been up to.


	2. Breakfast

//:two

Dorothy Ann found it unsettling, staring at Arnold's back. It was a very broad back and it was virtually everything she was able see, baring her peripheral vision, as they fell in for the breakfast buffet.

back in the fifth grade, she barely had to go on her tippy-toes to see clear over his head. Arnold was practically being left behind when all of the other boys were maturing quickly (beef hormones and floursecent lighting or so she's heard.) He must be just about Ralphie's height now. Maybe even a little bit taller.

She watched him fork a hefty mound of pancakes into his plate, the mound piling up precariously. "Well aren't YOU hungry?"

"Oh! I... uhm... I'm just a bit famished I guess... from the uh... well... I'm a growing boy and all that." Arnold gave an awkward chuckle.

Growing boy was right, she thought to herself, getting pancakes of her own.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

There are some things you absolutely cannot take away from a teenage boy's mind.

There's the mysterious urge to horde the most trivial of objects as collector's items. There's the unhealthy compulsion for living vicariously off video game characters. And, of course, there's the all-too-human drive to propagate the species for at least one more generation (all the while drawing as much pleasure in the process as possible).

Arnold Perlstein was a teenage boy. Hence, his mind was in three different places standing in line. He was, for one thing, thinking of his collection of Precambrian fossils and, in extension, his trip to the Grand Canyon next Thursday.

He was also thinking about taking that Beginner's Japanese class they were offering at the community center so he could play his import UberQuest VIII before the international version comes out.

Most importantly, Arnold was thinking of Dorothy Ann. He didn't have feelings for her (leaving him without a convenient alibi) and he certainly was too shocked about what happened to even bring it up in a conversation. It was just that it was possibly the most brilliantly wonderful feeling he's ever had in his entire life and that his conscience that he never, ever, feels it again.

It took Arnold Dorothy Ann's comment to notice how he had already taken half of the pancakes from one of the serving platters.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"SO... uh... how's everybody back in Walkerville" Arnold said, his mouth full of pancake, continuing where he left off.

"Oh... well, I guess everybody's alright. Tim just got back from having his paintings exhibited by a gallery in Chicago. Wanda's captain of the High School volley ball team. Ralphie's captain of the football one. Both have been really successful leading their teams, I guess. They also went out for a while but they sorta got tired of it and broke up without much hub-bub. Ralphie's been with Keesha now for a year and Wanda's been pretty cool with it."

"And how's Keesha doing?"

"She's into film now. She won a national indie contest last year and she was given a film scholarship for when she goes to college. She also gets a small grant to work with until then so she's been busy preparing to shoot another film in Walkerville. Phoebe's starring in that, by the way."

Dorothy Ann swore she saw Arnold's ears turn red. "And how's our Phoebe?"

"Well, Miss Terese joined Greenpeace last summer as eighteen year-old Amanda Martinez."

"She did?"

"She did. But she wasn't able to take much of the roughing-it-out so she came back after a week at sea. She's now settling with volunteering for every humanitarian cause they're offering at the Walkerville Community Center. I do love my best friend."

"What about Carlos?"

"..."

Dorothy Ann looked away. It was obvious she wasn't going to answer.

"Got into the State championships too, I see."

"Yeah. And I'm going on to the Nationals too. I'm really, really excited."

"So am I, actually."

Dorothy Ann's face lit up. It was already odd enough to see Arnold competing there at the State Finals but the fact that he was apparently qualified for the Nationals really curried her curiosity. Arnold wasn't exactly stupid back in grade school but his school work had always been lackluster, at least compared to her's and probably Tim's as well. It was even an inside joke amongst them how, despite the glasses and the geeky demeanor, Arnold still didn't make it as the brains of the group.

"Oh really? You came into the top ten of the guy's division? I came in third."

"I... came in first."

D.A. felt remote Mexican desert mission bells ring violently inside her head until the imaginary hemp ropes snapped, the imaginary bells plunging into her stomach. She had always been more than a little comfortable with her intellectual position around her friends and she used to remind them how SHE was dutifully doing HER research back when they were kids. She quickly contented herself with the notion the guys are dumber on average anyway so he must be, like, in eight or ninth place as far as the Women's Division was concerned.

"I see." She paused, staring past his thick spectacles. "So, what else have you been up to besides studying day and night for this thing?"

"Well, there's GRANITE."

"You're still a rock-head, then?"

"Yeah..." Arnold gave a shy smile. "but I've been branching out though."

"Really?"

"Yup. I've been dabbling with paleontology for the last few months."

"That's a stretch." Dorothy Ann smiled, smiling sincerely for the first time that day. "Still rocks but with the added bonus of having been part of a living animal once."

"I see what you mean. Being a GRANITE member's been awfully nice though. They got me into a few geology and paleontology classes at Berkeley summer last year. And last summer, they let me tag along a Gobi Expedition. I actually had to review for the Ivy Bowl between digs."

"You went to the Gobi? That would explain the tan then!"

"Yeah. Actually, I think I remember you thinking I was still wearing underwear when you saw my tan line last night."

Awkward silence. Dorothy Ann's face shot red. Arnold covered his face with one broad palm.

"Anyway... you were saying something?"

"Oh! Uh... the Gobi... the Gobi expedition was hell. More often than not, they have me digging away the upper stratas to get to the richer layers while all of the older guys get to do the finer chisel-work. Plus, I didn't understand a word of Chinese. How about you? How've you been."

"Better." Dorothy Ann sighed. Looking at him, she thought maybe it would be best to come clean. "Apparently, I just cheated on Carlos."

"So you're... with Carlos, then?"

"Was. Is. I don't know anymore. We... had an argument the other day."

"I see. Uhm... anything else you've been occupied with lately? Sports? The Band? Art?"

"Well, I'm in the volleyball team. With Wanda Li. Otherwise, I'm studying. I worked as a volunteer research aid for my Dad's friend's company but I'm done with that." After speaking, she caught herself caressing his chest with her eyes. Trying to keep the casualness of their conversation, she continued. "You seem to have finally gotten a sport for yourself. Soccer?"

"Me? Oh! No, no. I wouldn't dare. The people in the school I go to aren't exactly very nerd-friendly and I've been able to lobby the School Administrators for a few budget cuts from the sports program to fund a refurbishing of the Science Lab. I've also been a hot target for jocks since the sixth grade so walking down the gym should be a health hazard for me." How anybody, jock or not, would be able to beat up a lean-muscled, six-foot-plusser escaped her. Maybe if they ganged up on him- "I guess the only exercise I get would be digging up fossils and climbing up rocks."

"It's doing you a lot of good."

"You think?"

"Yeah. You... must be cheating on someone too, right?"

"Oh! No, no, no, no! No! No."

"What? You're cheating on more than one girls?"

"I'm not cheating on any girls!"

"Oh!"

"What!?"

"It's guys-"

Arnold choked on some pancake. "I'm not gay, D.A. It's not like it's hard to imagine me still being single."

Dorothy Ann stared at the boy for the longest time. She found it hard. It was actually much easier for her to imagine him doing two or three girls at a time and getting paid for it but she promptly brushed it off when one of the girls in her mental theatre happened to be her with silicone implants. Then she remembered that remark of his the night before - how she was his first one.

"How did you manage to stay single?"

"What are you talking about?" Arnold looked at Dorothy Ann with a good deal of confusion. He thought it was obvious enough that he would remain single. "I've never even been on a relationship."

"What? You've been on an all-boy's school all this time?"

"Hardly. The cheerleaders in our school used to beat-me up for lunch money in Junior High. I think they stopped doing that because I used to talk about it to our counselor a lot. Back when I was twelve, one of them asked me out on a date but when I got there, her boyfriend was there to beat me up. I was like five-two and I had several bad bruises on me after that. I heard the cheerleaders got a big laugh out of that"

"Ow. And these girls still harass you?"

"Yeah. Usually, they'd go around with all sorts of nasty pranks and barging into the locker rooms after gym class while I'm taking a shower."

"What?"

"I... uh... do play a little High School Soccer. Just a little. The Coach bribed me he'd change my Junior High P.E. grades if I played for the high school team. I think they want comic relief in the field so I do my best so I don't give them the pleasure. Anyway, I usually stave off showering until everybody else in team takes theirs. I'm kinda skittish changing around others."

"And the pranks?"

"You know. Like that date invitation. And those sarcastic letters I always get in my locker. And luring me into locked rooms I had to kick apart to get out of. Four girls drew me naked for an art competition once a few months ago."

"Where the drawings insulting?"

"They drew me naked!"

"And?"

"And I was naked on the drawing."

"So?"

"Everybody who went to the show saw my privates!"

"Why? Did they make you them small?" She said teasingly.

"Well, no. A lot of them just copied the pictures of me going around. One of the girls tatooed her name on my chest for one of them."

"And you think they did it to spite you?"

"I guess so. Everybody picks on the nerd right?"

"Tell me: has anyone even beat you up since you've passed six feet?"

"Well, no."

"And what do you do when someone 'sarcastically' asks you to come with them to the janitor's closet and then tells you that they've been fantasizing about your body?"

"What?"

"Just answer the question. I'm sure it happened."

"I tell them to stop and I tell them what they're doing is mean."

"Then what happens?"

"Well, some of them call me pretty nasty names. Then, they spread rumors about me being gay and stuff. Some just cry over the fact that they didn't get me."

"And you really believe that's the reason?"

"Look at me, D.A.! Look at me!"

"I'm looking, Arnold."

"I don't exactly have 'seduce me' written on my face, do I?"

"When you look in a mirror, you read words BACKWARDS Arnold."

"You're... you're not setting me up too, are you?"

Dorothy grabbed Arnold by the hand, trying to bridle her emotions for him.

Was he baiting her? Did he want her to 'fess up-front that she felt more attracted to him than she ever did to Carlos? Was he trying to steal her away?

Then again, she instinctively knew that wasn't the case.

"Arnold, do you trust me?"

"Of course I do... I think."

"And the guys back at Walkerville- you'd trust them too, right?"

"They're, like, the only real friends I've had. Well, the only real friends I had that are my age and didn't like me for my Level 21 Sorcerer with Paladin levels."

"Is that a yes?"

"Of course."

"Come visit us at Walkerville one time. Maybe a change of environment might change the way you look at yourself."

"What good will THAT do?"

"You'll have to trust me on this one. Besides, we could all do with a reunion."

"True, that."

"So, will you come visit us?"

"Can I take the Walkerville bus with you from here?" Arnold replied without making eye contact.

"What?"

"I… I've actually been thinking of coming over to visit. Since earlier this morning, I mean. I can stay over at Janet's folks for a week or something. I—"

"Well, I wasn't expecting you'd want to come so soon."

"I won't if I'll be too much of a bother. My parents are touring the Holy Land and I'll be all alone at home. Plus, I really don't have anything else to do. Plus…"

"You feel guilty about what happened last night and you want to see how this all turns out with me and Carlos, don't you?"

"I guess."

"Are you going to confess?"

"When I get the balls to do it."

"Is that soon?"

"I don't think so."

"I'm… going to be packing now. I suggest you do the same. The bus to Walkerville should be leaving in an hour and a half."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Next: A reunion, a confession and nothing is the same.


End file.
